FENNEMORE CRAIG I-LAW
January 2, 2001

Fennemore Craig counsels clients on Internet, branding and e-commerce issues and protection and commercial exploitation of patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. Clients include a range of domestic and international businesses from Internet start-ups to large multi-nationals, in industries ranging from computer software and hardware to pharmaceuticals, toys, games, optics, and electronics.

• A Happy New Year to our friends and clients!

• Fennemore Craig is pleased to announce that two new legal assistants, Lori Martin and Louis Lofredo, have joined the firm. Lori Martin primarily handles trademark issues, including trademark searches, the prosecution of trademark applications, and post-registration and renewals of trademarks. Prior to joining Fennemore Craig, Lori was with Quarles & Brady.

• Lou Lofredo primarily handles patent issues, including patent searches, assistance with U.S. Receiving Office submissions, and preparation of administrative documents for U.S. patent filings. In addition, Lou works with the firm's lawyers in litigation involving intellectual property issues. Lou previously worked at the Weinberg Legal Group.

• You've Got Merger. With certain conditions, the Federal Trade Commission has approved the merger of AOL and Time-Warner, which will create the largest media company in the world. Link Link

• Congress approved $25 million for fighting Internet crime. The money will go to help states enforce their own laws. Congress also strengthened the law to prevent use of false identification documents. Link

• The Business Journal has run several recent articles discussing the impact of the new Top Level Domains, quoting Fennemore Craig's Steve Winkelman for analysis. Link Link

• Thomas Friedman, a New York Times reporter with a keen understanding of the effect of the Internet and e-commerce on foreign affairs, has written an article discussing how the Internet and the global economy have changed foreign affairs for President-elect George W. Bush and his Secretary of State-designate Colin Powell in comparison to the challenges faced by Powell when he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Security Advisor to President George Bush Senior. Link

• Congress has passed, and President Clinton is expected to sign, the Children's Internet Protection Act. This law will require libraries and schools to use Internet filtering software to screen "offensive" materials if those schools and libraries wish to keep their computer and Internet funding. The ACLU and others are objecting on the grounds that the law constitutes nationwide censoring. In response to passage of the law, activists have already released software that will defeat most filtering software. Link Link

• For some time, a ".com" at the end of one's name symbolized a cutting-edge, innovative business trend-setter. Now some people are viewing it as a "scarlet letter," indicating a b2c site that is hemorrhaging red ink, i.e., suffering financially. In a trend that we at Fennemore Craig have been anticipating for some time, companies are beginning to lose the ..com suffix, preferring to be viewed as a more traditional business that happens to use the Internet. Link

• Pro Football Inc. has appealed the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's decision to cancel the trademark registration "Washington Redskins" on the grounds that the term is "disparaging" and therefore not allowed under Federal Trademark law. On appeal, Pro Football is arguing that Native Americans who brought the petition to cancel have waited too long to do so (in legalese, this is called the doctrine of laches). Link

• Survey shows that trademark infringement is widespread on the Internet and growing. Link

• A group of authors is seeking to recover domain names that use their names. Link

• A court in China has held that Viagra is not sufficiently well-known in China (nor is it registered there), so Pfizer cannot recover the viagra.com.cn domain name from the alleged cybersquatter who registered it. Link

• But Procter & Gamble turns the tide in China. Procter & Gamble recovered the domain name for its famous laundry detergent, tide.com.cn. Link

• Time Warner used the UDRP arbitration proceedings to obtain 107 Harry Potter related domain names. Time Warner owns marketing rights for a Harry Potter movie. Most of the domain names were registered within 2 days of an announcement that the popular kids' book series was going to be made into a movie. Link

• There is no time for a holiday at MP3.com. EMusic has sued MP3.com for infringing the independent music label copyrights owned by EMusic's clients. Link

DISCLAIMER

The information contained in this e-mail has been prepared by Fennemore Craig for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. It is provided only as general information which may or may not reflect the most current legal developments. This information is not provided in the course of, and receipt of it does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship, and it does not substitute for obtaining legal advice from an attorney licensed in your state. Legal advice should take into account the specific facts of your situation, and you should not draw any particular conclusions from the information presented here. You should seek professional legal counsel before acting upon any of the information contained in this e-mail. Before sending information to us, however, please speak with one of our lawyers and get authorization to send that information to us.

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